finally some progress

After sleeping pretty well for a long time, the past 4-6 months have been rough with Shep. He would have a few good stretches every once in awhile and I'd think we were past it, but then he'd go back to waking up anywhere from 1-4 times a night. I tried everything. Watched what he ate, cut out almost all tv/movies (which I wanted to do anyway) and took away privileges. He has never slept with us, so it wasn't like we were breaking an old habit and we definitely weren't going to start that now. I was at a complete loss. Sometimes he seemed to be having dreams, but mostly it seemed he just wanted to be with me. He wanted to sleep with me. It was getting more difficult to get him back in his bed. I was exhausted and felt like a bad Mom. Try being 8 months pregnant and dealing with a beligerant 2 1/2 up to 4 times a night. With a new baby coming in just a month and a half I was getting more and more worried. (Sometimes I wondered if it was anxiety about the new baby?)

Meet blue bag. This simple paper sack has changed my life in the past 5 nights.


I've never done a rewards chart before and I decided desperate times called for desperate measures. I was not wanting to go the "lock my door so my child can't get in route," but something had to be done. I read some sleep rules for preschool age kids in one of my many sleep books and decided to go for it. Even though Conner rarely gets up during the night, I decided to include him in hopes that if Shep saw Conner obeying the rules and collecting prizes, he'd want to participate, too.




You see, that blue bag is full of prizes and very cool prizes, I might add. The first night Shep woke up at 11 pm, 3 am, 5 am and 6 am and then came running in my room at 7 am exclaiming, "It's 7-0-0. Now I get a prize!!!" Um, no. I don't think you understand rules, Shep. Conner did get a prize and after that, Shep got it. The next night was better, but not good enough for a prize. I was proud he was trying, but I knew I had to be tough and not budge on what it took to get a prize. Finally, the 3rd morning he got to pick a prize. Each day has gotten better. I really can't believe it. Last night he slept all night and came quietly in my room around 6:40 asking for help to go to the bathroom. He then, completely umprompted walked back into his room and got in bed until 7 am. I had to pick my chin off the floor.

If I had known how fast this would work, I would have done this a LONG time ago.